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When I visited my publishing house a few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to sit down with the Creative Director of the Design Team and talk with him about my book cover. He led me step by step through fascinating process of how they developed it.

Before I describe this process, however, I need to issue a disclaimer. Not all publishing houses develop book covers the same way. I’m sure even within Bethany House, covers are not all designed in an identical manner.

In addition, the process of cover development may vary between genres. As most of us know, historical romance is currently a popular genre. The costume and designs of past eras often fascinate modern readers. Thus the covers of historical romances may elicit more time and money than other genre covers.

All that to say, the Bethany House Design Team worked very hard on my book cover, and during my visit, I got a glimpse of how it was made.

First, the Creative Director showed me three large bulletin boards in his office. One board was filled with replicas of all the book covers he had developed for spring releases. Another board contained the book covers for summer. And the last board was still mostly empty, waiting for fall covers.

He rubbed his hand over a spot on the fall board and said, “Yours will go right here.” And I just melted. “Really?”

To prove it, he pulled out the file for my book and opened it. There were the initial sketches and plans for the cover, the notes describing the heroine, and all the other information that would help in the design.

Next he explained that they’d looked through the portfolios of models they have on file, found one similar to my heroine, and arranged a photo shoot. They rented the appropriate clothing for the time period, met with the model, and took over 500 pictures.

Fortunately I had the opportunity to sit down in the office of the graphic designer who was at that very moment working on my cover. She showed me several of the possibilities she’d already designed as well as the one she was currently focusing on. Fonts, swirls, background colors, facial expressions, the countryside setting—I was amazed at the attention they give to every detail.

Of course I didn’t get to see the finished product before I left, but I did get to take home a souvenir—a picture of the model, the woman who would now represent my heroine to the world. And for the record, I couldn’t have picked a more perfect model if I’d tried.

In the ensuing weeks, a committee met and discussed the pros and cons of each cover option. They settled upon the one they all liked best and emailed it to me and my agent for our thoughts.

More about my reaction in the next post . . .

We all hear how important the cover is, especially for debut authors. Our names won’t attract readers to pick up our books. The cover has to catch the reader’s eye first. Once the reader picks it up, then the back cover blurb and first page have to seal the deal. But without a compelling cover, we may not get a chance to tempt readers at all.

When my book sits on the shelf next to all of the other books with beautifully designed covers, I can only speculate what will draw someone to pick mine up or pass over it for someone else’s. I hope my cover draws readers, but I have no guarantees.

But I want to thank the very talented Bethany House Creative Team for all their hard work on my cover. The beauty of their design at least gives The Preacher’s Bride a fighting chance.

What do you think of how my book cover was made? Surprised by anything? What makes you pass over some covers and draws you to others?

I am a visual person so the cover is extremely important to me. I love most of the covers I've seen in CBA and I think they are doing a great job of portraying the story with one glimpse. I think that's really important. I prefer covers with images of people, something I can connect to immediately - like Karen Kingsbury's Baxter series - I think that must be amazing to see your characters become real life people on the cover of a book. Well, you know what I mean! How exciting for you, Jody, and I can't wait to see it.

You are all class, Jody. I went to a reading at a book store where the author told the handful of us that she'd been very disappointed in her first novel's cover. It opened my eyes to how much control you let go. I'm so thankful you were pleased with your result.

I'm a very visual person, so I imagine this process would be (will be ;D) thrilling.~ Wendy

Wow! What a fascinating process. I know covers are important. It's nice to know that so much time and attention is going into yours. I love the team feeling I see when I read about your experiences w/your publisher. Thanks, Jody.

HI Jody,Everything you've described about your publisher and how they deal with you has been so professional, I'm not surprised at the professionalism described here. I'd heard horror stories about authors not having any say in their cover design. Glad you had input and were consulted. Can't wait to see it!Karen

I think book covers have come a looong way since I was a kid and I'm so very grateful for that! It can make or break a book buying decision for me, so I'm guessing it does for others as well. as much as they say 'don't judge the book by the cover' .. we all do!

Oh my goodness, this is FANTASTIC! Thank you so much for sharing this. What a positive experience, too. I've heard of some really bad experiences with covers, so I'm glad yours is going well. I can't WAIT to see it!!!

I love this. Thank you for the detailing! How exciting to have a model represent your heroine!!! I can honestly say that when your book launches I'll be at my local Barnes and Noble picking up a copy and raving to all the customers around me. Do you have a set date yet?

I'm so impressed with your Bethany House experiences. They treat their authors well.

While word-of-mouth usually perks up my interest, a stunning bookcover doesn't hurt. Some of my recent favorites include: The Silent Governess, The Apothecary's Daughter, That Certain Spark, and A Passion Most Pure.

Tamara asked: I've heard a lot about the pros and cons of putting a real person on the front cover. What do you think of this?

My answer: I personally am drawn to books with real people--maybe because it makes the story seem more real? But I really think it's a matter of personal preference.

Eileen asked: Have you shown your cover yet?

My answer: No. But I will very soon! :-)

Lisa asked: Did you have input about your cover? Do you plan to get in touch with the model who will be on your cover?

My answer: They initially asked me for any ideas I might have for the cover and so I sent them a few suggestions. But I wasn't particular about anything and really trusted their expert design team to develop something that they knew could help sell the book. And no, I probably won't be in touch with the model, although I understand she was very thrilled to get to model for the book!

T. Anne asked: Do you have a set date yet?

My answer: I think you're asking about the date of the book's release. It's guaranteed to be in stores by Oct. 1, but will likely be out in some stores before that.

What a cool blog post! And yes, it surprised me. I especially liked the part about how he had boards with all the covers for spring and summer. Don't want to have one that's too close to another, right? I found that part fascinating.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!Ok. I'm done screaming in excitment for you now. Although I must say my Admin Assist. is looking at me rather strangely.

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE BHP's covers. They're amazing works of art and I LOVED reading this post because I always wondered how it was done. I can't wait to see the cover. You must be oozing excitment.

Oh wow! This is so cool. I had chills reading it. Did their model look like you envisioned your heroine?

It sounds like they are so invested in your book. It must be really good. I can't wait to read it. I'll want to review it, you know. And I expect you'll come to Lansing to sign books, too! We will have coffee!!!!!

Eeek! That is SOOOOO cool Jody. Wow. Covers definitely catch my attention. Sad, but true. Often it's either the cover or the title which will entice me to read the back cover of a book. If the back cover sounds good, then I read the first few lines.I can't wait to see your cover! I hope you can post it soon.

SO cool that you got to see the inner workings of your cover design! A graphic designer friend made a mock-up of a cover for my novel, and I'm so curious to see whether a publishing house will have a similar vision, or something I never thought of...

The things that attract me to book covers are interesting fonts and colors. This is so subjective and not even really controllable, but if there's a turquoise book smack dab in the middle of a bunch of black covers, I pick up the turquoise one.

When you were shown that space where your cover would be on the board, you must have felt so proud. I bet you had a lump in your throat, I am sure I would have done. What a wonderful thing to experience, I look forward to seeing the end result.

Jody, thanks so much for sharing the process you're going through. I'm learning lots and loving it. My jaw dropped when you said they took 500 photos of the model. Wow! They are certainly doing everything they can to ensure that your book gets the attention it deserves. Kudos to BH.

I'm late to the discussion, but I much prefer real people on the covers. However, I've rarely bought a book because of a cover. (Oddly, as a male who reads a lot of romance books, I've not bought a book because of its cover just because of what my wife would think.)